London, Amsterdam, Bruges, Paris?

Realistically cut Amsterdam out. But if you can't traveling to Amsterdam from London I would probably take the train if traveling with a party of 4. The Eurostar is central London, the airports are all on the outskirts. Whomever is doing all the booking and planning should be the Captain or final decision maker.

Hi DJ,
how many days is the total trip? London-Paris-Amsterdam is very well connected by train. So I would suggest taking a train instead of flying from Amsterdam to London. Ok, the flight might be a little faster, but if you take to the whole process the train is in my opinion much easier.

We will be there April 1st to the 15th.

Way too much. Ask your husband, ‘Well, since we’re in Chicago, may as well see Las Vegas.’

Keep it at London and Paris especially with the day trips out of London. It’s been 17 years for you, a lot has changed. Harry Potter eats a full day from London and so will Bath (if that’s essential)

I assume you’re looking around 14 days or so, you didn’t specify in your OP.

Keep in mind the younger ones may really not enjoy all the moving around and you don’t want a civil war or endless pouting along the way. Be sure to get them involved. I always suggest watching YouTube travel vlogs, they’ll hopefully see Europe as a vibrant living place, not as a bunch of boring old stuff and dates they have to learn in history class.

Bath is doable as a day trip (I've done it) but it's a long day (check the train schedules) and probably not cheap. There are much better day trips from London, but honestly you don't have much time there anyway. Don't count your first day, some of you are likely to be in a jetlagged haze and it will take you several hours to get through the airport and into your hotel. To have 6 days in London, you need to spend 7 nights there. Again, don't count your first and last days in Paris as sightseeing days. It will take half a day or more to get there and your last day you'll need to leave for the airport about 4 hours before your flight.

Adding Amsterdam - taking the train, you'll have a 4 hour ride (it's 2.5 to Paris) and you lose an hour because of the time change. 2 nights gives you one full day to see a little of the city. Then it's pack up again. From there to Paris is 3.5 hours on the train (remember, you need time to pack, get to the train, get from the train to your hotel, so again, a good part of the day is lost). That's a lot of moving and packing for one day.

Detouring to see Bruges is impractical to say the least. You will need to change trains in Belgium. There are no direct trains to Bruges from Amsterdam or to Paris from Bruges. The train station in Bruges is not near the historic center. You'll need a taxi or bus to/from the station. You will have your luggage with you.

You will be there during the busy Easter school holidays, so plane and rail tickets will be much more expensive, due to a hike in demand. London and Paris are the ideal fit for your timescale, with day trips.

Fly open jaw.

I much prefer York to Bath as a long train day trip from London and there is more there to interest your daughters. As it’s school holidays, book HP ASAP.

London and Paris will eat up about 5 nights each, so you might wish to skip Amsterdam and Bruges for this trip.

You need at least 3 days for Amsterdam and 1 for Brugges.

For day trips from London, there a many great places to visit. Bath is wonderful, especially the Roman Bath Museum.
If you love Shakespeare, then Stratford Upon Avon is a must.

Windsor Castle is wonderful and you can do from London. Also, Cambridge, Canterbury, Winchester and Salisbury are great day trips.
Your daughters might enjoy Warwick Castle as well.

Also make sure you book the Potter tickets well in advance, especially around the Easter period.

You didn't give the total number of days, so we don't have a good picture of the trip - except for a rushed run from London to Paris. It was a GOOD idea to get the open-jaw flight tickets you have, but your husband has connected the two cities with haphazard, out on a spur, not-on-the-way, destinations. He needs to open Google Maps and make more realistic plans. The addition of Brexit makes this slightly more important.

Bruges and Amsterdam are poorly connected to London and to Paris. (Eurostar is apparently adding a direct train London to Amsterdam, but it's still out of the way, and advance/walk-up fare differences have to be considered.) Amsterdam has much more than two days of attractions, so I question the value of a two night stop. (Remember that many museums close at 5PM, so your first "day" may be a short one, anywhere.

If he wants to visit Bruges, you could buy an ABS option Eurostar to Brussels, and sleep one night in Bruges. Then go to Paris, via Brussels or ... .... with a night or two in Antwerp, which has some affinities with the Amsterdam you are skipping. Although it's not remotely as nice as Amsterdam, the train to Brussels stops in Lille - can you get a night there for the same train price (I don't know?) That train ticket will be non-changeable, non-cancellable, BTW.

I think a day trip to Bruges while in transit would be quite rushed. While it is feasible to visit all 4 places, it would mean that you would have to cut back on your day trips or time in London and Paris. I also think that you really need a minimum of 3 nights in a city like Amsterdam.

What about 2 or 3 nights in Bruges with the rest of the time split between London and Paris? This would give you a break outside of the big cities in the middle of your trip. You could also do something more low-key (e.g., go bike riding). While Bruges is quite crowded with tourists during the day, I found it quite enjoyable in the evening. You can get a ticket on Eurostar from London to Any Belgian Station. You would change in Brussels and the trip would be about 3.5 hours. The trip from Bruges to Paris would be an easy 2.5 hours (again with a change in Brussels).

Thank you for all of your input! We're now looking at 6 nights in London, 2 nights in Bruges, and the rest (15 day trip) in Paris. Maybe throw in some day trips. We're going during spring break (and taking an extra week off of school), so hopefully the crowds won't be too bad.

Kids find out on Christmas morning!

If your Spring Break is around Easter as most USA ones, then you’ll be hitting Easter breaks at the same time in Europe.

I’d try not to do too many day trips, you’ll move as fast as the slowest person and it gets old going from hotel to train station and back on top of the time to and from the day trip destination. If Harry Potter is on the agenda, you’ll definitely need to book that soon.

It's been a while since I've been in Europe, but I would likely pass on Bruges for your trip. Amsterdam to Paris on the Thalys was about 5 hours, but Bruges requires about two hours on a different train from Antwerp. That said, it's a lovely little city with some cool museums and art work . . . Amsterdam and Paris are both very walkable and great cities. Bon Voyage!